


If You Only Knew

by OfEndlessWonder



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Cat's ex is a douche, F/F, fake dating au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 17:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7649503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfEndlessWonder/pseuds/OfEndlessWonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Entry for Supercat Week, Day 2 - Fake Dating. Cat needs a last-minute date to her ex-husband's wedding... who better to save her than her assistant?</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Only Knew

_The only thing I still believe in is you,_

_If you only knew..._

* * *

 

Cat’s been looking at her strangely all morning, and it’s making her _nervous_.

Twice she’s rushed to the bathroom to check that there’s nothing on her face or no crumbs in her hair, three times she’s checked her clothes to ensure that none of her supersuit is peeking out from beneath the blouse and skirt she’d chosen to wear that morning, and four times she’s asked Winn if there’s just something _different_ about her today, but he’d shaken his head and suggested that maybe Cat was just having one of _those_ days.

The kind of days that usually meant Kara running up a storm around National City, trying to fulfil every single one of Cat’s demands for the day or risk losing her job.

Kara glances up whilst she’s on hold trying to get a hold of one of the board members to arrange a meeting to find that Cat’s still staring at her, and this time, Kara doesn’t flush and glance hastily away.

This time, she meets her gaze, and her nerves only increase four-fold at the _appraising_ look on Cat’s face, the way she purses her lips as though she’s deep in thought, tapping her index finger against her chin.

It’s not often that Kara can bear to stare Cat directly in the eye, not only because Cat is intimidating, even to her, even after spending two years by her side and as a result knowing everything that made her tick, but also because sometimes, she thinks she could get lost in those eyes and forget how to breathe.

And it’s stupid, to feel that way about someone like Cat, someone as _unattainable_ as Cat, who just so happens to be her boss on-top of it all. But Kara can’t _help_ it, and she’s tried to push those feelings away, tried to date other people but then Cat’s gaze will catch her own or she’ll absentmindedly reach out a hand to set Kara’s collar straight and those feelings come rushing back and make her heart race in her chest.

Kara can’t look away as Cat continues to hold her gaze, and Kara feels almost as though Cat’s looking _through_ her, past her eyes and into her very soul, and she wonders what Cat finds in it, and whether it’s what she’s looking for.

The scrutiny makes her shift in her chair, though she can’t tear her eyes away, is held trapped in place by Cat’s magnetising eyes.

She wonders if Cat’s looking for a cape, and the thought almost makes her shudder. She knows that, despite J’onn’s help, Cat is still on her trail, still thinks that Kara and Supergirl are one and the same, and she drops hints like anvils but… Kara hasn’t quite been able to muster up the courage to come clean to her boss, not yet.

She just doesn’t want things to _change_ , isn’t ready for them to, and doesn’t know what will happen when Cat discovers her secret.

When Cat takes a breath, inaudible to everyone who doesn’t have super-hearing that is fine-tuned towards Cat Grant’s every move, Kara presses the phone back into the holder, already halfway out of her chair almost before the first syllable of ‘Kiera!’ has left Cat’s lips.

“Yes, Miss Grant?” She asks as steps through the glass door into Cat’s office, hovering a few steps shy of Cat’s desk – she’s still got that appraising look on her face, almost like she’s sizing Kara up, and butterflies erupt in her stomach as Cat catches the leg of one of her many pairs of glasses between her teeth.

“What are your plans for the weekend, Kiera?” Kara blinks at the question, because of all the things she’d expected Cat to ask, it wasn’t _that_.

“I… my plans for the weekend, Miss Grant?” She has to clarify, because Cat has literally never once shown any kind of interest in Kara’s life outside of work – even when she called her for something on the weekend or in the holidays.

“Yes, Kiera,” Cat replies with an exasperated roll of her eyes, her words clipped and laced with agitation. “Do you have any?” Kara’s mouth opens but she’s too stunned by this line of questioning to be able to form a word. “For God’s sake, Kiera, all it requires is a simple yes or no answer.”

“I… N-no, I don’t have any plans.” Not concrete ones, anyway – she and Alex usually hang out if there’s no DEO or Supergirl business to attend to, but that’s more of a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. “W-why?” She doesn’t usually stutter much around Cat anymore, certainly not as much as she had when she’d started, but Cat’s question and the stupid _look_ on her face make her feel like it’s her first day in this job all over again.

“I… There’s something I’d like to ask of you.” Cat finally looks away from Kara’s face in favour of reaching for the papers on her desk in-front of her, shuffling them even though Kara knows for a fact that they’re already in order.

It’s an uncharacteristically nervous move for Cat to make, and Kara’s curiosity skyrockets.

“And you don’t have to agree, it won’t affect your job here if you say no.” Kara frowns as Cat takes a deep breath, and when Cat next lifts her head her expression is carefully blank, and Kara wishes she knew what she was _thinking_.

“Okay…”

“My ex,” Cat’s lips twist around the word like it always does, and Kara feels an ache of sympathy because even though she hadn’t been around when it happened, she knew the divorce had been hard on Cat, and some scars still linger, “is getting married this weekend, and I’ve been invited.”

Kara still doesn’t understand where this is going, but Cat is looking at her expectantly so she just nods, encouraging her to continue.

“I’m sure he invited me just to annoy me – you’re more than aware of the fact that we don’t exactly get along.” Kara nods again, because she’s heard the shouting matches the two of them have had over Carter in the past. “But Carter…” She sighs softly. “He _likes_ the fiancée, and he’s _in_ the wedding, so I can’t exactly refuse to attend. I will not, however, go alone.” Cat pauses, looking at Kara almost expectantly, like she shouldn’t have to spell out… _whatever_ this is, but Kara is still as confused as she’s been all morning.

“Do… do you want me to make some calls? I know Idris Elba turned you down that one time, but maybe - ”

“No, Kiera,” Cat cuts her off with another sigh, though this time it’s exasperated. “I do not want you to make any calls.” Kara just stares at her, wringing her hands, and usually she’s an expert at reading Cat, at knowing exactly what she needs and when she need it, but today she’s drawing a blank and she can tell that it’s wearing on Cat’s nerves. “I _did_ have a date, but he cancelled on me yesterday.”

Kara wonders if that was the phone call Cat had had late last night that had made her immediately reach for a handful of M&M’s when it was over.

“It’s too short notice to find anyone else that would make my ex suitably jealous,” Cat continues, and Kara’s lips twitch into a smile because _of course_ that would be Cat’s first priority, “but I still do not want to go alone, so I was wondering if, perhaps…” She trails off, takes a deep breath like she’s steeling herself for something. “If you would accompany me.”

“M-me, Miss Grant?” Kara asks, though it’s more like a _squeak_ because she can’t believe that this is actually happening. “As… as your assistant?”

“No, Kiera,” Cat snaps, hackles raised, but Kara knows it’s only because she doesn’t want to be stopping this low and tries not to take offence, “as my _date_.”

“Y-you…” Kara stares at Cat in shock, glad that her back is to the bullpen so no-one can see her gaping. “You want _me_ to be your date? W- _why_?”

“Well, you’re younger than his fiancée, for one thing, which will piss him off.” Cat raises one hand and starts to use her fingers to list things off. “Despite your insistence on wearing those hideous cardigans and button-down shirts, I’m reasonably confident that you could clean up pretty well if you ever actually tried.” Kara tries not to be offended by that, either – backhanded compliment or no, it’s probably the best she’ll ever get from Cat. “You’re prettier than she is, too.” Kara’s cheeks flush pink, and Cat smirks. “I already know I can spend several hours with you without wanting to murder you – so long as you can keep the ridiculous rambling under control. And I assumed that you’d be free because outside of this office you don’t seem to have much of a life.”

“Sounds like I’m pretty perfect for you, Miss Grant,” she tries to joke, because she thinks if she doesn’t try and brush this off she may actually faint, because Cat Grant, _Cat freaking Grant_ , thinks that she’d be a good date for her ex’s wedding.

Cat thinks she’s _pretty_.

Rao, she’s going to be thinking about this every single moment for the rest of her life.

“Yes, well,” Cat purses her lips, “my other options were rather… lacking.” Kara supposes she deserves that. “But as I said, if you refuse, it won’t affect your employment here. And you _are_ free to refuse, Kiera. I don’t want you to feel like I’m forcing your hand.”

“I… I don’t want to refuse, Miss Grant.” She looks down at her hands as she says it, in-case Cat can glean anything of her true feelings for her boss, hidden in her eyes. “I’d like to be your date.” When she feels brave enough to chance a look at Cat, she finds the woman looking at her with narrowed eyes, tapping her glasses against her lips.

“It doesn’t mean anything, of course.” Kara knows she’ll never be courageous enough to tell Cat that she might _want_ it to mean something, that she’s agreeing because the thought of spending the day with Cat where she will treat her like more than an assistant sounds like a dream.

A day where she might even speak to her more like she does on those wonderful nights when Kara flies up to her using her cape to shroud the meek assistant Cat is so used to. Sometimes she feels guilty, for keeping this secret, because Cat shares things with Supergirl that she never would with Kara Danvers, but every time she thinks about telling Cat the truth, she remembers green eyes flashing as she’d threatened to fire her, and thinks that it will only be so much worse after more months of deceit.

So she bites her tongue and she keeps her secret, and she ignores the way that sometimes, it makes her stomach churn.

“Of course,” Kara agrees, because she knows it’s the only thing she can do. “It’s just pretend.”

“Mm, and you’re awfully good at pretending to be someone you’re not, aren’t you, Kiera?” It’s one of those pointed remarks that Cat likes to fire her way, sometimes, the kind that hint that she knows what Kara is hiding beneath her ‘hideous button-down shirts’.

She knows it’d be easy to let her secret slip, in moments like this, knows that that is what Cat wants whenever she levels Kara with one of those searching gazes, but, as always, the words stick in the back of her throat.

“I’m not sure I know what you mean, Miss Grant.” Kara smiles serenely, watches the frustration spark in Cat’s eyes. “But if we’re going to date – even if it’s just pretend – you should probably use my real name.”

Cat’s lips very nearly twitch into a smile, before she gives Kara another one of those appraising looks that make her stomach flip.

“Don’t get too cocky, _Kara_.” She nearly gasps, because she’s never once – despite how many times she’d tried, in her first few weeks here, to correct her – heard Cat say her name.

She finds that she more than likes the way it sounds.

“I’ll have a handful of dresses sent over to your apartment that won’t clash to terribly with what I’m wearing,” Cat continues, and Kara wonders just how much thought she’s put into this little plan of hers. “And you can choose which one you like best.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly - ”

“ _That_ part isn’t optional,” Cat cuts her off, with a smile that isn’t nearly as sweet as it seems. “I will not have you dressing like a schoolgirl.”

“But the cost - ”

“Is irrelevant to me,” Cat murmurs with a wave of her hand. “Consider it my payment, for you doing this favour for me, hmm?”

“O-okay. Do… do you need my address?”

“Kara,” Cat sighs it, this time, and Kara nearly whimpers because _Rao_ her mind goes to places it shouldn’t, imagining scenarios where Cat would breathe her name for an entirely different reason. “You’ve worked for me for two years, I know exactly what miserable little neighbourhood you live in.”

“You do?”

“Yes, and you should really consider moving somewhere safer, Kiera.” Well, it was nice while it lasted, Kara supposes – though she shouldn’t really expect things to change too much in the office, considering it was a one-time thing that none of Cat’s employees would be around to witness. “Honestly, the crime rates are through the roof.”

“I think I can handle it, Miss Grant.”

“I’m sure you can.” Cat gives her another one of those _looks_ , and Kara gulps. “Now, I think we’ve wasted enough time for today, don’t you? I need the layouts for our next issue. And my lunch, while you’re at it. Cob salad. And another latte.”

“Yes, Miss Grant.” Kara scurries away, back to work, and wonders if this entire morning is some kind of weird dream.

x-x-x

“This is a terrible idea, Kara,” Alex tells her over ice cream and Game of Thrones later that day. “Like, maybe the worst idea you have ever had.”

“Worse than that one time we decided to test out how high I could fly and you got hypothermia and almost died?”

“Yes.” Kara winces, because the fallout from that had been pretty terrible – Eliza hadn’t spoken to either one of them for a full week afterwards. “Kara, she’s your _boss_.”

“It’s not like it’s a _real_ date.” That is how Kara’s been justifying it to herself, and how she needs to justify it to Alex, because if she ever finds out the truth? That Kara _wants_ it to be real? Kara’s pretty sure that would end badly for everyone involved. “It’s just one day, how bad can it be?”

“Um, very?” Alex says, giving Kara her very best ‘really, sister?’ look. “There’s not _only_ the fact that she’s your boss – and what are people going to say about that if they see you together, Kara?”

“It’s not like anyone from CatCo will be there,” she shrugs. “And they were, I’d just tell them the truth.”

“That your boss is forcing you to be her date to her ex-husband’s wedding for reasons no-one’s really sure of? She’s taking advantage of you, Kara.”

“She’s not! And she didn’t force me, Alex, she told me I could say no and it wouldn’t affect by job.”

“Yeah, right,” Alex scoffs, but Kara shakes her head vehemently, because Cat isn’t _like_ that. “I’m sure it wouldn’t.”

“It wouldn’t, okay? Cat’s not some sleaze who goes around sleeping with her assistants, or making them do things they don’t want to. You really think she’d be where she is today if she did? She’s the most powerful woman in National City, she exists under a microscope. Yeah, she can be pretty unscrupulous in her methods, sometimes, but she’s not a bad person.”

“Do you… do you _like_ her?” Alex is narrowing her eyes at Kara, and the laugh that she forces to try and deflect sounds hollow even to her own ears, a traitorous blush staining her cheeks.

“What?” Her voice is an octave higher than it usually is. “N-no.” She laughs again, even as she watches Alex’s eyes widen in horror. “That… that would be _ridiculous_!”

“Oh my _god_ , Kara!”

“Look, Alex, it’s nothing okay, don’t freak out - ”

“Don’t freak out?” Alex looks at her in disbelief. “She’s Cat freaking Grant, Kara! God, this is bad. This is really, really bad.”

“It’s not, because it’s not a real date and Cat Grant would never want anything to do with me anyway.” She wishes her voice didn’t sound quite so bitter. “She’s just using me. So there’s nothing for you to worry about. Really.”

“Oh, Kara.” She must look more dejected than she thought, because there’s sympathy in Alex’s voice and in her eyes as she wraps an arm around Kara’s back to pull her close. “You really _do_ like her, huh?” She nods, miserably, playing with the fringe on one of her couch cushions. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” Considering Kara herself had been in denial of it for quite some time, writing it off as hero-worship instead of romantic feelings, she doesn’t see how Alex could have possibly known. “And she’d be an idiot if she didn’t see how great you are.”

“I thought you were violently opposed to the idea?”

“Oh, I am.” Kara manages a smile. “I am. But… you’re my baby sister. And I want you to be happy, and if Cat makes you happy…” Alex trails off, nose wrinkling slightly in distaste, and Kara laughs. “Then I can get behind it, eventually. Maybe.”

“There’s nothing for you to get behind, though,” Kara tells her, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder and closing her eyes. “This doesn’t mean anything.”

“Okay, Kara, people like Cat Grant don’t _usually_ resort to asking their assistants to go to events with them as a _date_. I’m pretty sure there are like a million other people Cat could have gone to before you, but she didn’t. She asked _you_ , and there’s a reason for that.”

“I don’t know…”

“Look, you know those trashy romance novels you always laugh at me for reading and that I threaten you to keep a secret?” Alex asks, and Kara grins and nods. “Well, fake dating is practically a staple in situations where person A is terrified of asking Person B on a real date, say… if they’re the boss and might get slapped with a sexual harassment suit if they push things too far. You said it yourself,” Alex murmurs, nudging Kara with her shoulder. “Cat exists under a microscope. She can’t exactly go around dating her assistant, _especially_ if she thinks that assistant might be horrified by even just the idea. Maybe she’s just trying to scout you out.”

“I really don’t think that’s what she’s doing.”

“Well, _I_ do, and no offence, Kara, but I have a little more dating experience than you.” Kara sticks her tongue out at her sister, and Alex thwacks a pillow in her face.

“Then tell me, oh wise one,” Kara gets another smack with the pillow for that, before she wrestles it from Alex’s hands and throws it over her shoulder. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You blow her mind at this wedding,” Alex tells her, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “You get dressed up, you look hot as sin, and you see if you can make her all hot and bothered.”

“I don’t think…” Kara glances down at herself, in sweatpants and thin white t-shirt, “I don’t think that I’m capable of getting Cat hot and bothered, Alex. Have you _seen_ her?”

“Yes, and I have also seen _you_. You hide yourself away because you don’t want to draw any attention to yourself and I _get_ that, Kara, I _do_ , but… you don’t have to do that all the time. And you can clean up pretty well, little sister. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Aside from being able to keep Cat’s attention all night long?” _Rao_ this is going to be a disaster; maybe she should have just turned Cat down. “I’m so screwed.”

“You do realise you have another problem, right?” Kara just eyes Alex warily, because doesn’t she have enough to worry about already? “She’s _Cat Grant_. And she thinks you’re Supergirl. When’s the last time you spent longer than an hour with her outside of work?”

“She’s going to spend the night interrogating me,” Kara groans, and Alex nods, squeezing her tighter. “I’m definitely screwed.”

“On the bright side - ” Alex starts, but pauses when there’s a sharp knock on Kara’s front door, eyebrows knitting into a frown. “Are you expecting company?”

“No.” Kara leans over the back of the couch and uses a blast of x-ray vision to see who’s standing on the other side.

And nearly topples over it when she sees Cat in the hallway, lips pursed in distaste and several garment bags held in one hand, her foot tapping impatiently on the floor.

“Holy shit.”

“What?” Alex asks, looking even more alarmed, because Kara rarely swears – in English, anyway. “What is it? Is it the kind of surprise I need my gun for?”

“N-no.” She flinches when the knock comes again, louder this time. “It… it’s _Cat_.”

“Cat Grant is here? In a part of town she’d never be caught dead in, in a building she’d never lower herself to step foot in, to see _you_?” Alex looks positively gleeful, and Kara almost wishes her earlier horror would return. “Oh, she definitely likes you. Do you have any popcorn? I feel like I’m going to need it for the conversation I’m about to overhear.”

“Shut _up_.” Kara nudges her harder than she usually would, and Alex winces, glaring at Kara and rubbing at her shoulder as Kara rises to her feet and crosses over to her door on unsteady legs, just barely remembering to snatch up her glasses and push them on her nose before she yanks the door open.

Cat’s fist is raised, prepared to knock a third time, her expression carefully schooled into one of mild irritation, as though it’s Kara’s fault that she’s here.

“So you _are_ alive,” Cat murmurs, sardonically, and Kara just barely refrains from rolling her eyes. “I was worried, for a moment.”

“I… what are you doing here?”

“The dresses.” Cat brandishes the garment bags she holds in one hand, the ends of them trailing on the floor, too tall for her to carry. “I said I’d send them over.”

“I… I didn’t think you meant by _you_.” She glances over her shoulder, glaring at Alex, who’s peering over the back of the couch and looks overjoyed, and takes in the sight of her messy apartment with panicked eyes.

She’s pretty sure she has underwear sticking out of the wash basket.

Cat Grant is going to see her underwear, and they’re not even one of the _nice_ pairs that Kara owns.

Thank Rao her supersuit is carefully tucked away, otherwise they’d be having an entirely different kind of conversation.

“I, um, wasn’t expecting company,” she says apologetically when Cat’s eyes follow her gaze. There are dirty dishes and clothes strewn over the back of furniture and her painting supplies are haphazardly spread across her little-used kitchen table, and Cat’s going to think that she lives in squalor. “Sorry about the mess.”

“I wasn’t planning on coming here,” Cat admits, voice quiet as she eyes Kara’s sister with some curiosity. “But I thought that perhaps there were some things we should discuss, before Saturday. Things that wouldn’t be appropriate to talk about in the office.”

“R-right, of course. Um, let me just…” She trails off, whirling around and raising an eyebrow at Alex. “Don’t you have that thing you need to get to?”

“That thing?” Alex asks, playing dumb, smirking as Kara fights the urge to growl in annoyance.

“The appointment, at the clinic?” If Alex is going to play dirty, then Kara sure as hell can, too. “You really shouldn’t miss it, Alex, it’s important to get tested. And if it _is_ herpes, then - ”

“I’m going!” Alex cuts her off, and Kara smiles serenely as Alex shrugs into her jacket with a scowl on her face. “Call me later.”

“Let know the results!” Kara calls after her, chuckling when Alex flips her the bird over her shoulder as she ushers a bewildered-looking Cat inside. “Sorry about that.”

“I’m assuming that was the sister.”

“Yup.” Cat hovers just inside Kara’s doorway, like she’s not certain she belongs here, and Kara heads towards her kitchen, trying to surreptitiously tidy things away as she goes. “Can I get you a drink, Miss Grant?”

“Call me Cat when we’re not at the office, Kara.” Cat drapes the dresses over the back of her couch, and Kara nearly has a heart attack at the permission that has just been granted to her. “You can hardly call me Miss Grant at the weekend.”

“O-okay.”

“And you should probably stop the nervous stuttering, too.” Cat leans one hip against the couch, and settles her hand on her other hip, one eyebrow quirked upwards. “Otherwise people really will think I’m forcing you to be there.”

“Sorry. It’s just… you make me kind of nervous?” She frames it as a question, trying to soften the blow. “I don’t… I don’t really know how to act around you, outside the office.” And outside of her cape is what she doesn’t add. “But I’ll, um, I’ll try and be better.” She doesn’t know if she _can_ , because Cat’s kind of terrifying, but the least she can do is try. “So, Cat,” she tries to adopt some of her Supergirl-esque confidence, “do you want a drink?”

“I’m not entirely confident you’ll have anything drinkable in this… delightful apartment,” Cat replies, glancing around and taking it in with a calculating gaze, “but why not. Show me what you’ve got.”

“I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” Kara replies, a little smug as she opens one of her cupboards to reveal well-stocked shelves consisting of all the bottles that Cat is so fond of at the office – she’d run out of her favourite whiskey once, and Kara had vowed never to be unprepared again in the face of Cat’s anger.

“Well, well, well,” Cat drawls, stepping forward in heels that put her at Kara’s eye-level whilst she’s barefoot, and Kara tries to ignore the intoxicating scent of Cat’s perfume as she pauses at Kara’s shoulder. “You are just _full_ of surprises, aren’t you, Miss Danvers?” Kara swallows thickly, watching as Cat reaches up for a bottle of her favourite red wine, and grabs two clean glasses, setting them on the counter as Cat twists it open.

She pours a generous splash into both glasses, nudging one towards Kara, who takes it with trembling hands.

She doesn’t think she’s ever been so nervous in her entire life, because _Cat_ is in her apartment wearing a blue dress with a split up the back that makes Kara want to run her fingers along the skin it reveals, and she has no idea what she’s _doing_.

Her heart is racing in her chest, and her palms feel sweaty, and she can’t even taste the wine she’s drinking, too distracted by Cat’s gaze lingering on her face.

Earlier, in her office, she’d been reserved and careful, like she was waiting for Kara to bolt, but here, where Kara should be in her element and Cat far from it, here Cat is watching her with cool calculation, and Kara is convinced that Cat can see straight down to her soul.

“You paint?” Cat inclines her head towards the easel set-up by one of her windows, and when Kara hums softly Cat takes a step towards the pile of canvases propped up on the wall beside it, and Kara sets down her glass of wine and practically leaps in-front of the older woman before her fingers can touch the first frame. “Oh, now I’m just even more curious about what you’re hiding in there.”

Cat’s got an eyebrow raised like a challenge, but Kara isn’t prepared to rise to the bait, not when so many of those paintings are things she remembers from Krypton, things so obviously not of this Earth that it would be impossible to explain.

And then there are the other paintings – paintings of green eyes flecked with gold.

Kara thinks she’d rather tell Cat she was Supergirl than have her discover that sometimes, Kara painted her.

“They’re private,” she says, and her voice trembles, and it might be the only time she’s ever stood up to Cat, ever truly refused her something, in all the time that they’ve known one another.

It’s as exhilarating as it is terrifying, and they stare at one another, each appraising the other, for one heavy moment before Cat nods, seemingly satisfied by something she sees in Kara’s eyes, and steps away.

“Very well.” Her gaze settles on one of the many photographs Kara has dotted around the place of her and Alex when they were younger, and a soft smile crosses her lips before she notices Kara watching her and her expression turns carefully blank once more.

“Do you not need to be with Carter tonight?” Kara asks, because she knows how important he is to Cat, doubts that Cat would be here with her when she could be spending time with him, instead.

“He’s staying at his father’s until the wedding.” Cat’s lip curls, her displeasure obvious, and Kara feels a flash of sympathy. “He never used to enjoy it. He’d fight tooth and nail on the rare occasions Christopher wanted him for the weekend, but that changed when the fiancée moved in.” Cat takes a large gulp of her wine, a faint tremble in her fingers. “I’m terrified that they might try to sue for custody. Claim that a secure family unit is better for him than living with a workaholic single mother.”

“Cat…” Kara trails off, stretches her hand towards Cat in an effort to comfort her, but she thinks Cat would shrink away if she tried, so she lets it drop back down to her side, instead. “I’m sorry. But if it ever came down to it… no-one can doubt how much you love Carter.”

“I let one son slip away from me.” Cat glances down at her glass as though the wine holds all the answers she seeks. “They’ll use that against me. Claim that I’m an unfit mother.”

“No-one could argue that,” Kara says softly, and when she steps closer Cat doesn’t flinch away. “You’re great with him. You balance running an entire corporation _and_ being an amazing Mom, and I don’t see you letting anyone take that away from you. And your other son is back in your life now, too.”

“All thanks to you.” Cat turns to face her, and the look in her eyes takes Kara’s breath away. “You do so much for me, and now I’m forcing you to spend your Saturday with me, too.”

“I told you I don’t mind.”

“But I wonder, with how much you do for me, whether you’d say no even if you wanted to.” Kara wonders if they’re even talking about the date anymore, because it sure doesn’t sound like it. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked this of you.”

“But you did,” Kara shrugs. “And I _want_ to help you, Cat.”

“Why?”

“Because I… I care about you.” She says it softly, her eyes on the ground, not daring to look Cat in the eye. “And your ex is an asshole.” She’s overheard enough of the way he speaks to Cat, had to gently tell Carter that his Dad wouldn’t be coming to pick him up, _again_ , enough times to know that. “So if I can help you show him up,” she shrugs. “I will.”

“Sunny Danvers can curse,” Cat murmurs, sparkle in her eyes when Kara raises her head. “Who knew?”

“Now _you_ do.” Cat smiles softly, and Kara wants to paint the way it lights up her face, the way her eyes shine in the dim light of Kara’s apartment.

“I wonder what else you’re hiding.” Kara wonders if she’s imagining the suggestive undertone of Cat’s voice.

“Maybe one day you’ll find out.” It’s one of the most daring things she’s ever said, and it hangs in the air between them for one long moment – one long moment in which Kara is terrified that she’s said too much, and Cat is about to turn on her heel and stalk away.

But then Cat’s lips curve into a slow smirk, and Kara breathes a quiet sigh of relief.

“Act as brazen as that on Saturday and we’ll have nothing to worry about.” Kara doesn’t know if she can keep this up for a full day without passing out. “But in the office - ”

“Nothing changes,” Kara finishes. “I know.”

“Good.” Cat clicks her way back over to the kitchen to pour herself another glass, and Kara picks up her own, long ago abandoned.

“There’s something I was wondering, though.” She feels braver with the wine on her tongue, and Cat appraising her over the counter. “If people ask about us, at the wedding? What are we going to say?”

“You mean what’s our story,” Cat surmises, humming quietly when Kara nods. “I suppose that’s something we should settle on beforehand, I agree.”

“I just don’t know if it’s believable,” Kara says softly, watching Cat stiffen opposite her, “that someone like you would ever want someone like me.”

“Really, Kara?” Cat shoots her an exasperated look. “You’re young, and you’re pretty, and you have your whole life ahead of you – you really think that’s what people are going to be wondering? No, they’re going to wonder what a pretty young thing like you is doing with someone like _me._ Old and bitter and married to her company. They’ll wonder what on earth you could possibly be getting out of it, and they’ll whisper about promotions and money and…” Cat trails off, catches her bottom lip between her teeth and then closes her eyes, heaving out a sigh heavy enough to make her shoulders shake. “This is a bad idea. I’m going to taint you for life. No matter what you achieve, there will always be rumours that you got there because you slept with me.”

Kara flushes at the mental image _that_ conjures up.

“But we both know that none of that’s true,” Kara counters. “As long as I know that I didn’t get to where I am because of my relationship with you, then… none of the rest of it matters.”

“It might, in the future. No, this was selfish of me. An old woman’s fantasy.” She shakes her head. “I should… I should go.”

“Wait, Cat.” Kara’s fingers close around her wrist, and she can feel the frantic beat of Cat’s pulse against her palm. “I _mean_ it. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me. If you don’t care about the cliché of sleeping with your assistant,” Cat huffs out a quiet laugh, “then I can put up with the whispers. Besides, it’s just one date, right?” She tries to keep her voice light, to not betray that in truth, she wants so much more. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

x-x-x

Kara thinks, as she slips into the back of Cat’s town car two days later, that she’s definitely going to eat her words.

Because Cat looks _stunning_ , in an eye-catching dress that’s an electric blue, ensuring that she’ll be the centre of attention. The neckline reveals the sharp outlines of the collarbones that Kara is prone to staring at whenever Cat shows them off, and the slit on her thigh rises almost to her hip, her hair in loose waves around her shoulders, and Kara thinks she’s never seen a sight so beautiful.

Judging from the look Cat gives her as she settles into the seat beside her, Kara thinks she looks pretty passable, too.

She’d chosen a dress in purple, stayed far away from red and blue. It’s backless, showing off much more skin than she’d usually ever dare, but Alex had encouraged her to ‘live a little’ and Kara loved the way the silken material felt against her skin.

“I was right,” Cat murmurs, something molten in her gaze. “You certainly _do_ clean up well.” Kara gulps nervously as Cat leans forward to snatch up two glasses of champagne, handing one to Kara, who tries valiantly not to gasp when their fingers brush. “You’re still sure about this?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” Kara assures her, though her stomach is a tangled mess of nerves, has been since Cat had asked her to do this – yesterday she’d barely been able to concentrate in the office, and Cat’s patience had started to wear thin as the day wore on.

There’s none of that irritation on her face now, though, as she sips at her drink and eyes Kara over the rim of the glass.

“What, um, what have you told Carter?” Kara asks as she fiddles with the stem of her own glass, because when Cat had left her apartment on Thursday night she’d been unsure how to break the news to her son that his mother’s date to his father’s wedding would be her assistant.

The same assistant who had nearly gotten him killed the last (and only time) she’d babysat.

Kara doesn’t think Cat’s going to be letting that one go anytime soon.

“I told him that I was bringing you – which he was very excited about, by the way. It seems you’ve made _quite_ the impression on him.” Kara smiles softly, because he’d made an impression on her, too.

He’d never really spoken to her before that weekend, on the rare instances he was in the office waiting for Cat. He’d duck his head and stare at his shoes, and Cat would be quick to usher him inside her inner sanctum and let him scribble away at his homework on her balcony, away from prying eyes.

But that weekend, near-misses aside, Kara had felt Carter warm to her for the first time, and she’d been unprepared for the giddy way that made her feel, and she’s missed seeing him around for the past few months.

“I also warned him that this was just our way of… testing the waters, so to speak. So he doesn’t think things are getting serious.” Cat takes another sip of her champagne, and then rolls her eyes. “He actually thinks you’d be _good_ for me.” She shoots Kara an accusing look, like it’s her fault Carter had said that. “Can you believe that?”

“No,” she answers, and she isn’t lying. “But I’m glad he approves.” She shoots Cat a grin that’s the closest to cheeky she’s ever come, and Cat gives another grand roll of her eyes. “How, um, how are you feeling about this? About him getting remarried? It must be hard for you.”

“He cheated on me,” Cat says, matter-of-factly, staring out of the window. “That was why we got divorced, not because my job drove us apart, though that was the story he fed to the press. So no,” Cat turns to her, fire in her eyes, “it is not hard for me. I just hope he doesn’t do the same to that poor girl, because she doesn’t deserve months of deceit and sneaking around, wondering what she’s doing wrong, unable to understand why he won’t even look at her anymore, let alone touch her.”

Kara finds it hard to believe that it’s possible to have a woman like Cat Grant as your wife and feel the need to look elsewhere for anything.

She finds it impossible to think that, if she were ever allowed the opportunity to learn Cat’s body with hands and lips and teeth and tongue, that she’d ever be able to stop.

That she’d ever _want_ to stop.

“I… I’m sorry, Cat,” she says, and she _means_ it, finds her free hand reaching into the space between them but she pauses, because the physical boundary is that one last line that they’ve yet to truly cross. “You didn’t deserve that. He never deserved you. You… a woman like you deserves _everything_.”

“Well, it’s a shame that there isn’t a queue of people lining up to offer it to me, isn’t it?” Cat’s hand lands on-top of hers, fingers curling around the back of Kara’s wrist, pressing her palm against the soft leather, and Kara prays Cat doesn’t hear the way her breath catches at the casual touch. 

“Maybe you’re just not looking in the right places.” Her voice is breathy, because Cat is leaning towards her, and for one heart-stopping moment, Kara is convinced that Cat is about to kiss her.

And then the car is rolling to a halt and the driver is stepping out to open the door, and she can Cat spring apart, a blush staining Kara’s cheeks as she slips from the car with a quiet thank you to Stephen, who Cat informs that they’ll let him know when they need picking up.

The wedding is at a fancy hotel downtown where a room for the night probably costs more than every single cent Kara’s earned since she started as Cat’s assistant, and she takes the sight of it in with wide eyes as Cat loops her arm through Kara’s and tugs her along.

She tries not to react to the gesture, but it’s _hard_ when Cat’s skin brushes against her own with every single step, and she nearly trips over her own feet, unaccustomed to wearing high heels, and Cat huffs out a quiet sigh when they pause so that Kara can right herself.

“Do try not to fall flat on your face, _darling_ ,” Cat hisses, and Kara nearly chokes on air. “And if you do, and you drag me down with you, you are _fired_.”

“I thought nothing that happened here affected by job?” Cat just growls, tugging her on, and Kara struggles to keep up with her quick pace, trying desperately to ignore the curious glances they’re getting from the guests that have already arrived.

They follow the signs out to the back of the hotel, where it opens out onto a deck with stunning views of the beach and ocean below, and Kara catches her breath at the sight of it, trying to commit it to memory so that she can sketch it when she gets home.

“Oh, god,” Cat murmurs when they pause against the railing, a murmur following in their wake, and Kara turns to see what has Cat looking so horrified, sees only a woman in a red dress with grey hair heading their way. “That’s Christopher’s mother.”

“I’ll go and get you a drink,” Kara whispers into her ear, and Cat’s thanks is a quick squeeze of her arm that nearly makes her brain short-circuit.

“Something strong,” she hisses as Kara turns to leave, and she just catches a ‘Catherine, I didn’t think you’d actually dare to show up’ as she scurries towards the bar, wincing as she goes. She makes it back in record time, finds Cat still engaged in conversation with a woman that, judging from her stiff posture and the way she’s got one hand gripping the railing behind her for dear life like it’s her only tether to this world, Kara’s pretty sure she despises.

She hands Cat a bourbon, and winces again when she drinks it in a single gulp.

“Still throwing them back like an alcoholic, I see,” Christopher’s mother says snidely, and Kara glowers, because what right does she have to talk to Cat this way, when it was her son’s fault things ended so horribly between them? “Are you not going to introduce me to your…” She trails off, eyes the way that Kara leans protectively into Cat’s side. “ _Friend_?”

“Kara Danvers,” Kara tells her, sticking out her hand although she doesn’t feel very friendly. “Cat’s date.”

“Date?” Cat’s former mother-in-law arches a disbelieving eyebrow as she shakes Kara’s hand, and Kara has to remember to control her strength so she doesn’t squeeze too hard. “Well, that explains why things didn’t work out between you and Chris, doesn’t it? He wasn’t a twenty year old busty blonde.”

“No, he was just screwing one,” Cat replies sweetly, and Kara chokes on a sip of her lemonade.

“How _dare_ you - ”

“Mom!” Carter’s voice saves them all from whatever insult was about to pass from his grandmother’s lips, and Cat and Kara turn as one to see him bounding towards them. “You made it.” He throws his arms around her waist in a hug, and she presses a kiss to the top of his head. “Hey, Kara. It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, kid.” He smiles up at her with a sparkle in his eye. “You look pretty handsome in that suit. Very smart.” He blushes and stutters a thank you, and then rolls his eyes when Cat presses him backwards so that she can straighten his tie. “You guys want a photo?” Kara brandishes her phone when she sees the proud look in Cat’s eyes, and Cat shoots her a grateful look before sliding an arm over Carter’s shoulder and tugging him towards her, ‘accidentally’ elbowing the mother of the groom out of the way as she did so.

Kara grins, opening her camera and snapping a photo of mother and son, the ocean creating a beautiful backdrop behind them.

“Now you and Mom need one!” Carter insists once Kara has gotten her perfect picture, and she’s ready to refuse when she sees the glare they’re still getting from Christopher’s mother and figures, if she can piss the woman off a little more, where’s the harm?

So she hands her phone to Carter, who holds it carefully, and makes her way over to Cat. Her fingers tremble as she reaches out to wrap an arm around her waist, splaying her fingers over Cat’s hip and pulling her into her chest.

She hears the way Cat’s heartrate spikes the second that Kara touches her, and tries not to read into it when Cat leans into her, resting her head on Kara’s chest as she wraps _both_ of her arms around Kara’s waist to hold her close, and Kara knows the smile on her face will be dazzling because this is the closest she and Cat have ever been.

When Kara glances at the photo Carter proudly presents her with once she and Cat have detangled themselves, it’s not the expression on her own face that catches her eye.

Instead, it’s Cat’s – there’s a soft smile on her mouth, and a light in her eyes, and she looks so beautiful, framed in the bright sunlight, but more than that, she looks _content_ , wrapped in Kara’s arms like she never wants to let her go.

“You guys make such a cute couple!” Carter announces, his eyes bright and his smile wide, and Kara aches because she wants that more than anything else in the world.

“Who makes a cute couple?” A new voice asks, and when Kara glances over Carter’s shoulders she recognises his father from the sparse times he’s actually showed up when he was supposed to, these last few years.

“Kara and my Mom,” Carter tells him helpfully, as Kara sizes him up, looking at him with new eyes. His sandy hair is starting to grey, and his eyes a dark brown that appraise Kara, and Cat hanging onto her arm, thoughtfully. Cat’s nails are digging into her skin so hard that, had Kara not been the girl of steel, she would probably be leaving bruises, but Kara doesn’t try to pry her away.

“Your assistant?” His eyebrows raise so that they almost disappear into his hairline, and somewhere behind them, his mother makes a surprised sound. “Really, Cat?”

“It didn’t stop you in the past.” Cat’s voice sounds civil to those who don’t know her as well as Kara does – but she can identify the anger simmering just beneath the surface, can feel the tension in her shoulders, knows that Cat is coiled tight like a spring, ready to snap.

“Yes, but I never brought one as a wedding date.” He looks amused, now, smirk on his mouth as he takes Kara in. “What’s she bribed you with, Kara? You seem like a sweet, innocent girl. Like you should be far, far away from Cat here. So, what is it? Money? Promotion? An article in next week’s Trib?”

“Dad!” Carter cries, looking up at him with wounded eyes, and Christopher jumps, glancing down at his son like he’d forgotten he was even there.

Cat curls her free hand around his shoulder and squeezes gently.

“That was mean,” Carter tells him, voice stern. “Kara’s really nice, and my Mom likes her,” Kara freezes slightly, against Cat’s side, “and I think she makes her really happy.”

“I’m sorry, son.” Christopher reaches out a hand to ruffle his curls, but Carter leans away from the touch. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just find it a little hard to believe that Kara here has anything in common with your Mom.”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Carter sniffs, doing his best Cat impression yet, and Kara can practically _feel_ the pride radiating off the woman at her side. “You should apologise.” Christopher stares at Carter for one long moment before he shakes his head and sighs.

“Alright. I’m sorry, Cat.” His lip curls a little around her name, but it’s nothing compared to the look on his face when he adds, “Kara. I shouldn’t be so judgemental.” Carter looks mollified by that, and then his attention is caught by one of the bridesmaids, and he hurries off with a quick ‘bye!” to his parents. “Then again,” he continues, once Carter is out of earshot, “I think a little judgement is warranted when the age gap between the two of you is probably older than Kara is herself.”

“And how old is your fiancée, again, Chris?” Cat asks him, voice tight. “Twenty eight, was it?”

“Twenty nine,” he corrects, through gritted teeth, and Cat hums.

“Kara’s twenty five, so I’d maybe look in a mirror before you make any comments about a difference in age again.”

“Oh come on, Cat, we both know you’re only doing this to make a scene, showing up here with her on your arm. Don’t pretend it means anything, because there’s no way someone like her would ever fall in love with someone like you.”

Cat goes very still beside her, and Kara knows that she’d have flinched if not for the impeccable self-control she’s spent years building.

Kara, however, lacks that self-control, and the white-hot anger that floods through her at his words demands to be set free.

“Listen up, asshole,” she starts, and Kara assumes the horrified gasp she hears from somewhere behind her is Christopher’s mother, still listening in. The man himself only glares at her with angry eyes. “This is your wedding day, so why don’t you maybe focus more on your soon-to-be wife, instead of attacking the one you were idiotic enough to let go?”

There’s more she’d like to say, about love and how she only wishes she could be so lucky as to have someone like Cat Grant to fall in love with, but that would be saying too much, so instead she bites her tongue.

“You know, I think I’ll go and do just that,” he murmurs, his voice a sickly kind of sweet that makes Kara’s blood boil. “Enjoy the ceremony. And enjoy today, Kara, because she’ll toss you aside the second she’s done with you.”

With that, he waltzes away, and the second he’s gone Cat lets go of Kara’s arm like it burns, recoils away from her and presses herself against the railing, instead, staring down at the crashing waves far below them.

“Cat?” Kara asks, when she other woman is silent for several long moments. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replies immediately, but Kara knows her well enough to know that it’s a lie.

“What is it?” She steps forward, leans her arms over the rail and looks at the horizon so that she doesn’t drown in Cat’s eyes. “It’s not the things he said, is it?”

“That it’s so unbelievable that you could be here with me solely because you wanted to?” Cat laughs, and it’s bitter, carried away by the wind. “God, I shouldn’t have brought you here. I was just trying to fool myself.”

“Fool yourself into what?”

“Thinking that I could ever have a chance with someone like you.” Kara doesn’t know if she would have heard the words, if not for her superior hearing, but she _does_ , and she gapes at the side of Cat’s head in shock.

“W-what?”

“You heard me.” Cat clenches her hands on the railing, knuckles flashing white. “This wasn’t just a charade, not to me. I never had another date, I was always hoping to ask you. I thought that maybe… maybe if we went out, just once, as a pretence, then I could convince myself that it’d work, but… he was right. And I’m a fool.”

“You’re _not_ a fool, Cat.” She scoffs, and Kara reaches out to pry her hand away from the railing, tangling her fingers with Cat’s and squeezing gently, pulse thundering in her ears because this is it, this is the moment she’s been waiting for for so long, and now that it’s here she’s terrified she’s going to mess it up. “He’s the fool, to think that I could never fall in love with you.” Cat’s eyes find hers, and Kara blinks away the tears that threaten to fall. “Because the truth is, Cat… the truth is that it would be an _honour_ to fall in love with you, if you would only let me. I swear I’d treat you better than he or anyone else ever has.”

“Kara…”

“And I’m not saying this because you’re upset and I think that’s what you need to hear. I’m not saying this because it’s my job to make sure you’re happy and things run smoothly for you. I’m not saying this because I don’t know how to say no to you.” She pauses to take a breath, revelling in the look of quiet amazement on Cat’s face. “I’m saying this because for once in my life, I want to be selfish. I want to admit what I want and not worry about the consequences. And what I want, Cat… what I’ve wanted for _months_ … is you. I didn’t agree to be your date to this because I was worried I’d lose my job if I said no. I came because I wanted it to be real, too.”

“You have no idea what you’re saying.” Cat’s voice is thick, and Kara realises that it’s with tears, though none fall from her eyes. “No idea what I’m like to be with.”

“I’ve been your assistant for a while, Cat. I think I have some idea.”

“And how can you still want something with me, after everything I’ve put you through?”

“Because I think falling in love with you would be easy. Because sometimes you’re the only thing that makes sense to me, my only constant, the only thing I can rely on to keep me grounded.” She’s talking about Supergirl as well as Kara, and she thinks she sees some flicker of understanding in Cat’s eyes, but this isn’t the time for that revelation. “I could list a hundred reasons why, Cat, but I don’t think we have the time.”

Behind them, people start to filter inside the hotel, for the ceremony that is about to start, but Kara doesn’t want to leave, not yet, not when they’re so close to the something more that she’s craved for so long.

“Have dinner with me,” Cat murmurs, and the hand that isn’t wrapped around Kara’s reaches up, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, fingertips lingering on Kara’s cheek and leaving her breathless. “Tonight, after this is done. And we can… we can talk. Try and figure something out.”

“Are you asking me out on a date, Cat Grant? For the second time?”

“Oh, shut up.” Kara laughs, and does just that, ducking her head to brush her lips against Cat’s in a kiss that’s short and sweet, a mere promise of things to come.


End file.
